Leopard Geck female seems to be hungry most of the time

[Jonas Sandstedt]

Hello, my name is Jonas Sandstedt and I have a leopard gecko female called Elvira that is about 6 years old. Normally, everything works just fine. The previous years, she has stopped eating from about November to March and then started eating again as nothing has happened. I have taken her to a gecko zoo specialist and to the veterinarian, but they could find nothing wrong with her.
Now to the present issue. Since one and a half month, she seems to be hungry all the time and comes chasing as soon as I open her cage. Previously I have had no problem lifting her out of the cage and for example taking care of remining skin residues when shedding. Now she “hunts” for my hand and tries to bite me when I try to catch her, always out for a new prey. Does anyone know what this changed behavior can be due to, and what I should do? I have not changed anything in her environment, the bottom material is tiles and there is a heat mat on the right side. I normally feed 2-3 dubia a couple of times a week.

Best regards

Jonas

 

[acpart]

I have found that some leopard geckos are pretty changeable with their eating habits. I've had geckos that pretty much didn't eat at all for as much as 6 months (this didn't happen often, but I had one that wouldn't eat Nov-May) and others that suddenly become very hungry. Unless they are visibly losing lots of weight or have persistent diarrhea there's nothing much to do. Consider feeding your gecko as many dubias as she wants on feeding day. Some of my geckos are eating up to 4 super worms (much larger than dubias) at each feeding. See if that makes her less hungry. If you really want to take her out, consider feeding her a few dubias right before you take her out to take the edge off.

Aliza

 

[Jonas Sandstedt]

Hi and thanks for the tip about feeding her before handling her. Perhaps this is a phase that will pass eventually. A leopard gecko's eating habits are far from those of cats and dogs
Best regards Jonas